We’ve not featured Austin’s Guzu Gallery here at Limited Paper before today, but that’s alright: we’re all about bringing new galleries and artists into the fold ‘round these parts (especially when they’re right in our backyard: how could we not?), and now that they’re on our radar, we’ll be keeping a close eye on ‘em going forward…like this coming Friday, for instance.

On November 30th, Guzu Gallery’s opening a show called Strange Beasts: A Tribute to The Japanese Kaiju Phenomenon. Not familiar with “Kaiju”? Wondering what Guzu Gallery’s show is going to entail, and what artists are going to be dropping prints there (including a few Limited Paper regulars)? Meet me after the jump for a brief preview, my fellow poster nerds.

Whenever I’ve got people in from out of town, there’s a number of places in and around downtown Austin that I’ll always make a point to take them to: if they arrive hungry, we’ll hit up Torchy’s Tacos; if they’re alcoholics, I’ll take ‘em down to east 6th Street; and if they’re the Limited Paper-reading type (read: poster nerds), we’ll drop by—where else?– the Mondo Gallery.

And if my guests are ultra-nerds (it happens), I immediately point the car in the direction of Austin Books and Comics (51st and Lamar) a local haven for unapologetically nerdy locals that is– without question– the best store of its kind that I’ve personally ever encountered. If you’re even remotely into that sorta thing, I strongly recommend you add it to your to-do list next time you’re in town (below: that’s the view from just two angles from the middle of the store).

Anyway, a while back I noticed that a sizable store front had become vacant in the spot directly next door to Austin Books. I wondered briefly if this was the space Mondo was angling towards, but promptly forgot all about the joint as soon as the Mondo crew announced their Gallery’s location (at 41st and Lamar) shortly thereafter. In the time since, I’d all but forgotten about that empty space…but it came back to me earlier in the week, when I received the following press release from the good folks who took over that spot:

Featuring screen prints, original artwork and custom toys from artists both local and nationwide, Guzu Gallery is proud to present their first themed art show…Strange Beasts: A Tribute to the Japanese Kaiju Phenomenon

A band of twenty rogue artists has been assembled to defeat…ahem, pay homage to…those mighty, mammoth monsters from the movie and TV screens of Japan. As we speak, kaiju are awakening all over the world…soon the invasion will begin at Guzu Gallery!

The opening reception will be Friday, November 30th from 7 to 10pm and the artwork will remain up through the end of 2012. If you can’t make it out to the gallery, they will have limited edition screen prints available online on Saturday, December 1st at Noon CST.

Interesting, indeed: an entire Kaiju show? In case you’re the type that skips over block-quotes, “Kaiju” is the Japanese name given to all those giant-ass monsters that used to dominate (no pun intended) Japanese cinema back in the day: Godzilla, Mothra, MechaGodzilla, and the like. If that were all we knew about the show, I’d say that it sounds like a compelling idea for a showcase…but as you can see on the flier above, that’s not all we know: Strange Creatures is also set to feature a handful of artists we’ve covered here at Limited Paper in the past.

The full list includes Joshua Budich, Nicole Cantu, Jason Chalker, Tracie Ching, Tim Doyle, Clay “Ferg” Ferguson, Matt Frank, Paul Hanley, Alexander Iaccarino, Shawn K. Knight, Danny Miller, David Moscati, New Flesh, Jesse Philips, Zach Taylor, Eric Torres, Vincent X. Torres, Nathan Walker, Scott Wetterschneider, and Robert Wilson IV. Phew, that’s a sizable lineup, no? On top of all this info, Guzu Gallery (seen above, btw) was also good enough to send over a few preview images from the show. We’re missing a few key details on the specs for these prints (edition sizes, etc), but we should have more for you on that later in the week. In the meantime, let’s see what we’ve got here:

Strange Beast by Tim Doyle

24×36” screenprint

Mecha-Pufnstuff by Jesse Phillips

Based on H.R. Pufnstuff

18×24” screenprint

The Spaceman From Nebula M78 by Eric and Vincent Torres

Based on Ultraman

24×36”

So, if you’re a local Austinite who collects posters, you may have already noted the scheduling conflict here: Mondo’s Tina’s Mom’s Boyfriend (an entire showcase dedicated to Australian duo We Buy Your Kids) and Guzu’s Strange Creatures are both scheduled for this Friday, November 30th, with both opening at roughly the same time. Good news is, these two Galleries are almost (ALMOST) within walking distance of one another, so you should have plenty of time to see one and then move on to another. Because Mondo’s doing a press opening for Tina’s Mom’s earlier than either of these public openings, it’s likely that I’ll be headed to Guzu after seeing what Mondo’s got on offer that night.

And what about those of you who aren’t already living in Austin? Well, more good news: My professional opinion here is that Guzu’s show’s going to be largely low-key, which means that it’ll probably be a wee bit easier to pick something up online if you want it…and you won’t have to wait long, either! An online drop will occur this Saturday around 12pm, CST, at the Guzu Gallery website. And while you’re doing that, Limited Paper will be working on the writeup/walking tour of both shows, at least one of which we’re hoping to have up on Friday evening.

So stay tuned, folks! Much more in the days ahead: we’ve got the two aforementioned Gallery shows to recap for you, along with a really cool announcement about a special movie screening that Limited Paper’s in the process of putting together on December 30th. That show—and its tickets—will be made available to anyone that wants one, but if you’re hoping to participate in the poster giveaway(s) that we have planned for that screening, be aware that you WILL need to be at the Drafthouse, in-person, ticket-in-hand, etc. You’ll hear more about that later in the week, but in the meantime…start making sure you’re free on the night of December 30th so we can all party together (not only will I be hosting the screening that night, but I’ll also be celebrating a birthday)(yippee). As always, if you’re an artist or gallery with artwork you’d like to see featured on Limited Paper (or if you’re just some lucky bastard who happened to overhear a bit of poster-related gossip while standing in the bushes outside Martin Ansin’s house) we wanna hear from you! Email Limited Paper directly at LimitedPaper@gmail.com, and be sure that you’re following us on Twitter via @LimitedPaper for ongoing commentary, news updates, giveaways, and more!